Pipe heating furnace



.1. L. cooDY PIPE HEATING FURNACE Filed April 27, 1944 Dec. 26, 1944.

Sheets-Sheet l Johh A600 INVENTOR Dec. 26, 1944. l .1. COODY PIPE-HEATING FURNACE Filed April 27, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jab/7 50004 /MPatented Dec. 26, 1944 l" pipe sections around a form.

NITED-S A s PAT :Prer: HEATING FURNACE 1 a John Goody, Tulsa, Okla...Application April 27, 1944, Serial No. 532,989 3 The invention relatesto pipe heating furnaces, particularly adapted for heating pipejsctionsof large diameter,- preparatory to placing the pipesections onfabendingtabIe for bending the A further object is to provide a pipesection heating furnace, through which furnace at plurality of pipe"sections are progressively moved to a discharge point wherethe pipesections are -removed as needed for the bending operation.

j A further object is to-provide trackways at opposite sides of thefurnace and extending; en-

tirely across the furnace and shoes in said trackway for supportingthepipe ends in spaced relation so that the p'roductsof combustionwithin the furnace will pass entirely around the jportions of the pipesectionsywithin the furnace. 1

Also to inclinethe trackways so that the pipe sections will move bygravitytowards the discharge side of the furnace. in

A further object is to provide thedischarge side of the furnace betweenthe trackways with filler members so that the lower pipe section willact. as a seal against escapeof gasesfromthe,

furnace. i

A further object is to provide the lower portion of the furnace with atransverse supporting memberengaging the lower sides of the pipesections between the trackways for preventing sagging of the pipesections, incident to the heating thereof.

A further object is heating furnace through which pipe sections, to beheated, will move by gravityfrom a pipe feeding position to a pipedischarge position, on the opposite side of the furnace. l

With the above and otherobjects in view the invention resides in thecombination and arto provide a pipe section rangement of parts ashereinafter set forth,

shown in the drawings, described and claimed, it being understood thatchanges" in the precise embodiment of theinventionmay bemadewithin thescope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the furnace, 1

the combustionchamber 2 through a bumer 3,

and the products of combustion pass upwardly into the chamber 4 of thedome section 5 of-the furnace, and then outwardlythrough the flue 6tothe atmosphere, y I

The dome section 5 is rigidly supported, up-

wardly spaced, from the lower section I by the rigidiarms I carried bythe stationary uprights 8 and, by the downwardly extending: armsil; thelower ends of the arms fl beingconnected to the "oblong shaped frame IIl,*formed' fromjangle iron,

therefore it willbe seen that the dome is rigidly supported atall'times. I

The end bars I I of the frame Ill are formed from channel iron to formguides in. which the I refractory pipe holding spacer members I2 areguided; there being similarly shaped channeled members I3 carried by theendsof the furnace section I for guiding jthelower spacer blocks 12.

The bars I3 extend beyondthe rear side: of the furnace, clearly shown inFigure 2', so,,that pipe I sections I4 can be assembled in the spacerblocks to the rear of the furnace, and asthe guide chan- ,nels I I andI3 incline downwardly and forwardly, it will beseen that the pipesections will be progressively fed downwardly and forwardly through thecombustion chamber 2 to, the forward side of the furnace by gravity. Thelower forward ends of the guide channels I3 terminate in upwardlyextending stop arms l5 and by referring to Figure 2, it will be seenthat when, the pipe section III, shown in dotted lines, has been heatedthe upper spacerblock I2 can be removed,

then the pipe section removedfor a bending operation on a bending table;after which the lower block I2 is removed and thenall of the blocksections, with the pipe sections therein,will

feed downwardly by gravity so that the next pipe section, which has beenpreviously heated, is"

in position to be removed, for bending purposes, I

It willbe noted that the lower section of pipe will cool some on itsouter side and this cool side is placed against the form around whichthe section is bent, hence will be free of wrinkles incident to thebending operation while thehot outer side will be ductile and willeasily stretch} and will be free of wrinkles. The type of bendingmachine is disclosed in my co-pending application, Serial Number532,988, filed April 27,

1944. It will be notedthat the lower pipe section I4 substantiallycloses the space between the dome and the base at the point ofdischarge, I thereby preventing excessive loss of heat during theheating operation. I I I l p It has been found desirable to support theENT! OFFICE pipe sections I4 within the furnace intermediate their endsto prevent sagging of the sections and to accomplish this result a Watercooled upwardly inclined supporting member [6 is provided. Member Hiengages the under sides of the pipe sections l4, consequently the pipesections are maintained straight at all times. A circulation of watermay be maintained through the sup port I6 by means of a water supplypipe l1, and a discharge pipe I8. It will be noted that the ends of thepipe sections l4 extend beyond the ends of the furnace, and the heatingis centrally of the sections where the bend is to take place. Thefurnace is particularly adapted for bending pipe of large diameter, ashigh as 24 inches, which is quite common around refineries.

The spacer members, l2 are provided with arcuate recesses l9 conformingto the cross sectional shape of the pipe, however they are preff erablyspaced asat 20 to take care of expansion and contraction.

a From the above it will be seen thata pipe heating furnace is providedwhich is simple in construction and one through which pipe sections areprogressively fed by gravity to the point of discharge.

The invention having been set forth what is claimed as new and usefulis:

1. A furnace for heating pipe sections, said furnace comprising a lowerbase section having a combustion chamber therein, a dome section abovethe base section in spacedrelation thereto; transversely extendingdownwardly and forwardly inclined spacer block trackways carried by thebase section and the dome section, separable spacer blocks mounted insaid trackway for the-reception of opposite ends of pipe sections, saidpipesections and spacer blocks moving by gravity through the combustionchamber from the rear side of the furnace to the forward discharge sideas the pipe sections and spacer blocks at the discharge side are removedfrom the trackways.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 including a pipe section sag braceextending through the furnace in engagement with the under sides of thepipe sections. I

3. A device as set forth in claim 1 includinga brace extending throughthe combustion chamber in engagement with the under side of the pipesections, and means for cooling said sag brace.

4. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the lower spacer blockguides extend beyond the rear side of the furnace, thereby allowing theassembling of spacer blocks and pipe sections to the rear of the'furnaceto be fed through the furnace as pipe sections are removed from thedischarge side of the furnace.

5-. A device as set forth in claim 1 including stop members in the pathof the spacer blocks at the discharge side of the furnace for limitingthe lower pipe section to the. dischargepoint outside the furnace. v p I6.. A device as set forth in claim Lwhereinthe spacer blocks are formedfrom refractory matesubstantially formclosuresfor the space betweenthefurnace section at the rear and forward sides of the furnace therebypreventing excessive loss of products of combustion.

JOHN L. COODY.

